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Cundinamarca Department
Cundinamarca is a department of Colombia, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia".
Origin of the name
The name of Cundinamarca comes from Kundur marqa, an indigenous expression, probably derived from Quechua, used in pre-Colombian times by the natives of the Magdalena Valley to refer to the nearby highlands, meaning '''''Condor's Nest'''.
Geography
Most of Cundinamarca is on the Eastern Cordillera (Cordillera Oriental''), just south of Boyaca, bordered by the Magdalena River on the west, reaching down into the Orinoco River basin on the east, and bordering on Tolima to the south. The capital district of Bogota is nearly completely surrounded by Cundinamarca territory, and indeed was formed by carving up Cundinamarca; between this and other divisions, the present department of Cundinamarca is much smaller than the original state.
The capital of Cundinamarca is Bogota. This is a special case among Colombian departments, since Bogota is not legally a part of Cundinamarca, yet it is the only department that has its capital designated by the Constitution . Also, in censuses, the populations for Bogota and Cundinamarca are tabulated separately; otherwise, Cundinamarca's population would total 9.5 million.
Provinces
Cundinamarca has 15 provinces and the Capital District of Bogota (Bogota D.C.), which simultaneously acts as capital of the Republic, capital of the Department and a District (or Department) in itself.
Almeidas
Upper Magdalena (Alto Magdalena)
Lower Magdalena (Bajo Magdalena)
Gualiva
Guavio
Central Magdalena (Magdalena Centro)
Medina
Eastern (Oriente)
Rionegro
Central Savanna (Sabana Centro)
Western Savanna (Sabana Occidente)
Soacha
Sumapaz
Tequendama
Ubate
See also
Postage stamps of Cundinamarca
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Cundinamarca Department
